After initially hinting at a deal for Liverpool ‘keeper Pepe Reina, Italian side Napoli have backed off in their pursuit of making the Spaniard’s loan permanent with both the Reds asking price and his high wages a major barrier for the Serie A outfit.
With the release clause of £4.1mil in his contract a very poorly guarded secret, Liverpool’s cards are already on the table. Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has more or less said that 31-year old will never play for the Anfield side again making his sale this summer a forgone conclusion, but with this latest hiccup disrupting what looked to be a cut and dry transaction, just where Reina will be plying his trade next season remains an open ended question.
“It’s very difficult for Pepe to remain at Napoli” his representative Manuel Garcia Quilon told Italian meida outlet Corriere dello Sport after talks broke down. “From June 30, he will return to Liverpool because they want to maximise his sale, and Napoli are not willing to spend what is required.”
With Reina pulling in a significant pay-packet on Merseyside, his wages could very well remain a massive barrier to all but Europe’s most elite clubs. Links to Spanish sides Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have dried up as of late with the Catalan giants signing Ter Stegen and the Champions League finalists looking for ways to hang on to Thibaut Courtois.
It’s been reported that Rodgers is looking to raise somewhere in the region of £30mil through player sales this summer, and the Spaniard was expected to be one of the first to go. The Reds boss was hoping to have the vast majority of his transfer business done before the World Cup kicks off next weekend, but he may need to adjust his plans as time ticks away. It doesn’t look like Reina is going anywhere anytime soon…
